Witches Brew
by akaeve
Summary: A murder of a Petty Officer leads Abby and Jimmy on a mystery
1. The Witch

"No, no no. You cannot be serious. It just isn't true," Abby shouted at her equipment, "Hey, and what do you want? I can hear you and I can definitely smell you, when did you last wash?" as she turned round to face Gibbs.

"This morning, why, and what's with the tone of voice?" he enquired.

"Sorry Gibbs, you may be here, but so is someone else. I can feel it, and I'm sure I saw a shadow pass the wall," she replied.

"Too many late nights, or caf-pow, you need to cut down," Gibbs replied in a concerned voice.

"No Gibbs, she….and I know she is a she, is here in my space, I can feel her," as Abby began to hunch her shoulders and slant her eyes and look about.

"Her, you sure?" Gibbs questioned.

"I feel a softness, been a feeling in here, since you brought in that body of the Petty Officer. Jimmy brought me up DNA and a fragment of wood….I thought it was wood, but all my machines say the age is 1692…and that can't be right. The radiation elements don't add up," pouting.

"What you saying?" Gibbs continued.

"I'm saying that the splinter of wood that was extracted from your Petty Officer is hundreds of years old. Yes older than you and me and the whole team put together, well deduct Ducky, but Gibbs this wood is old."

"Thank you Abbs,"

"And where did you get the body from?" Abby asked.

"Salem."

"I rest my case," she smiled at Gibbs.

"Case?"

"Yes case, I have a witch in my lab," Abby shouted.

"Well get to know her. Get her to help solve this case," Gibbs advised as he turned and walked away, a sly smile on his face.

"I need a name."

"Ask McGee to help," as Gibbs turned to face her from the door before moving out of sight.

"McGee," as a beaker fell to the floor, "Ok Tony?" Two beakers fell to the floor, "Ok just you and me then," as a wind passed by and Abby felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise catching in her dog collar, "Ouch, but you need a bath, or can I use air-freshner?"

-oOo-

"Ahh Jethro, I wondered how long it was going to be until you paid us a visit," Dr Mallard enquired not looking up.

"What you got Duks?" Gibbs shouted.

"This is interesting, your Petty Officer drowned, but he was held down. Looking at the bruising and the discolouration of the skin, and the piece of what appears to be wood, I sent up to Abby but I would say by a yoke."

"Yoke?" Gibbs questioned.

"Yes looks like the yoke was on him…..sorry," Jimmy replied now feeling silly.

"Quite Mr Palmer, please leave your vulgar parlour humour where it should be….in the parlour, but Jethro you know that in days of old, if you were thought a witch you were dunked in the village pond, if you came up screaming and shouting you were a witch and then taken off to be strangled and burnt at a stake, if you drowned, then you were innocent and given an apology…"

"No win situation then…" Jimmy replied smiling, before seeing the look in the other two men's eyes,

"Sorry," as Jimmy slunk off to see if he could help Abby.


	2. Lizzie

"Abby?" as Jimmy looked about, "Abby where are you? I was being bad trying to make funnies over the dead Petty Officer, Dr Mallard and Agent Gibbs didn't find them amusing, but life is too short and wow, don't tickle," as he felt fingers brush his head, turning to face no-one.

Abby appeared from through her back office with a spray can of scent, air freshener, "Hi Jimmy and what can we do for you today?"

"We? I knew you had someone else in here she tickled my head at the back but when I turned there was no-one there, so where she hiding," Jimmy enquired looking about and under the lab table, and then back at Abby smiling.

"I meant we, as in the Royal we, but yes Jimmy there is something afoot, can't you smell her?"

"No, should I, so what's up?" Jimmy laughed.

"I got a presence, a feeling," as Abby began to walk about her shoulders hunched again, " An entity, a thing, a person, a she, yes a she, and she's a witch," as Jimmy watched another beaker hit the floor, "See a witch."

"Why do you say that, she's only a girl," Jimmy now answered looking at the window.

"What girl?" Abby shouted.

"That one by the window see look," as Jimmy pointed, "But she does look like a ragamuffin and her dress I would say definitely 300yrs old."

"You can see her?" Abby now questioned intrigued.

"Can't you," Jimmy shouted.

"Nope, can smell her though, but what is she doing?"

"Indicating."

"Indicating what?" Abby asked becoming hyper.

"I think she wants me….sorry us to go with her."

"I can't go through brickwork or glass," as Jimmy grabbed Abby's hand and holding his right hand out to the figure he could see, pulled Abby towards the window and out into the street.

-oOo-

As Abby became accustomed to her surroundings she shivered but looked at the girl.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Mine name is Elizabeth Stratten but thou caneth calleth me Lizzy," the girl answered in a strange tongue.

"And the year?" Jimmy now questioned looking about seeing no cars just open fields, but spying Duddington Manor in the horizon.

"Doeth thou not knoweth?" Lizzy asked,"'tis the year of our lord sixteen hundr'd and ninety three."

"You speak funny," Jimmy replied laughing, "Where do you come from?"

"Mine ancestors came ov'r on the mayflow'r, but I liveth with mine family in Salem," Lizzy replied curtsying to Jimmy. Lizzy turned and faced Abby saying, "Thou Abigail art v'ry strange, thy day attire, and wh'refore art thou wearing gaskins?" pointing at Abby's legs.

"Gaskins?" Jimmy questioned.

"I think Lizzy means my tartan trousers."

"And thou James wh'refore art thou wearing a strange dresseth and coxcomb?" Lizzy enquired pointing at the green robes Jimmy was wearing and the cap.

"Dress? Oh my autopsy gown and cap, I wear this when we, that would be Dr Mallard and I do well autopsies, what would you call them in old England…..probably post mortems," Jimmy replied laughing.

"But Lizzie what now, what are we doing here and where are we going, can we be seen?" Abby asked looking at the girl.

"Salem."

"Salem!" Abby and Jimmy shouted in unison, "But will we not be seen?" Abby continued.

"Thou couldeth not seeth me in thy time, they willeth not seeth thou in mime, 'r what was mine."

"Do you mean you are a ghost?" Jimmy now gasped.

"But what year?" Abby asked.

"Mine 1693 and then yours. I knoweth who kill'd thy cat'r-cousin and wh'refore."

"Why?" Abby gasped

"And who?" Jimmy added.

"Ay, but prithee taketh mine hands and doeth not walketh aroint from me 'r thou willeth nev'r returneth to thy owneth ordinary."

They both held Lizzies hands as she chanted something, she then closed her eyes and as she did so did Abby and Jimmy's tight shut.


	3. Salem

Abby was still rigid when she felt Lizzie clasp her hand slightly, she gingerly opened an eye and then the other. She stifled a gasp, which prompted Jimmy to open his, "Wow this is awesome," as he watched the people mill about.

"Hey Lizzie were you a witch?" Abby continued.

"Nay I di'd in jail, mine family wast convict'd of witchcraft, but we all caught the beshrew and di'd. I liveth on as a guide a good spirit, I wanteth to helpeth thou. I knoweth who kill'd thy cat'r-cousin and wh'refore."

"You walk the earth…..like the living dead," Jimmy asked in his blunt way.

"James, I doeth good, not evil, but prithee followeth me and I willeth showeth thou whence thy cat'r-cousin was killed," Lizzie replied as she moved away appearing to glide to the village pond, where she stopped and pointed.

"Our Petty Officer was killed here?" Abby questioned.

"Ay."

"Your family Lizzie, was you mother a witch?" Jimmy asked.

"Jimmy, Lizzie is not a witch, every time I mentioned witch, a beaker fell to the floor, thou wast trying to telleth me this w'ren't thou," Abby replied smiling now beginning to catch up with the lingo.

"Abigail, mine moth'r as a how wouldst thou calleth h'r, a h'rbalist, the village took h'r as a beldams, she knew natural remedies."

"And you were imprisoned for that?" Jimmy asked.

Lizzie nodded.

"Lizzie, that pond, was that was where the witches were tried? But you said our Petty Officer was killed there why."

"Prithee followeth, doeth not wand'r from me , stayeth near 'r thou willeth be with me f'r et'rnity," Lizzie replied moving towards the pond.

-oOo-

Tim entered the lab, Gibbs had said, no ordered that Tim go and help Abby, and see if Jimmy was still there as he had not returned to autopsy and Ducky was getting angry.

"Abby…Jimmy…..come on guys where are you hiding….are you two have an illicit affair?" A tumbler fell to the floor and Tim felt and smelt an air current, "Oh boy pongo stuff what you looking into?" as another beaker feel to the ground….."Guys this isn't funny and it isn't Halloween yet."

Tim started to look in Abby office and under the tables and in cupboards, he couldn't understand where they had gone, it was if they had been transported off the planet, he turned and went to tell Gibbs.

-oOo-

They, that would be Abby and Jimmy, followed Lizzie through the crowd, a crowd, maybe a dozen people milling about at the open market, they walked towards the building which would become the Town Hall. Jimmy found it amusing how they could move through people without being seen, "Hey this is cool, no-one knows I am here."

"James, they doeth, but how doeth thou mod'rn people sayeth, a shiv'r, someone walk'd ov'r thy grave 'r deja vu. Thith'r art a few people who caneth sense a presence, Abigail is one."

"Abby?" Jimmy questioned.

"I am?" Abby now asked quietly, "I am, yes I can, I think it must be a spiritual thing knowing and working with the nuns. But Lizzie why are we here," looking at the building.

"I haveth to showeth thou whence thy petty offic'r William Stratton was visiting ''re he was kill'd. He was looking into his ancestors, he want'd to knoweth whence he came from."

"Wait a minute Lizzie," Jimmy started to say, "Our Petty Officer is William Stratton, but you are Stratten, is he a descendant?"

"Ay, thith'r was one child, a baby sirrah, he was taken by mine moth'r and given to a family in anoth'r village. He was safe thith'r. I haveth been looking aft'r mine broth'r and his family f'r many years anon. that is wh'refore i appear'd to thou."

"So you know the killer or killers?" Abby squealed, jumping up and down.

"That I doeth, but I haveth to showeth thou the reason," as Lizzie began to walk away and along the street to the church.


	4. Tony

Tim went back upstairs to tell Gibbs, that Abby and Jimmy appeared to have well, disappeared. He entered the bullpen looking pensive.

"Look like you've lost a dollar and found a dime, McScrooge," Tony laughed looking at Tim's frowning face.

"Abby's vanished with Jimmy."

"Vanished, a grown woman and man can't just vanish. Did you look in the cupboards and under the tables?"

"First places I looked, and in the back office. Think I'll call Ducky see if they are there," Tim answered still frowning but picking up the phone called autopsy, "Oh I see, thank you Dr Mallard."

"Not there then?" Tony asked.

"Nope," Tim replied still frowning, "And Tony," as he turned to face his partner, "Something funny happened in the lab."

Tony stood and walking from round his desk began to sing hunching his back, "I was working in the lab late one night, when my eyes beheld an eerie sight…."

"Stop it Tony, I'm being serious, I mentioned Abby's name and a beaker fell on the floor and whatever was in the beaker really stunk…..and I felt as if I was being watched."

"See they are in the cupboard or in a drawer or…I know the potion it made them into flyies and they are stuck to the ceiling…mind you I wouldn't mind being a fly on the wall sometimes."

"Tony stop it, I'm going to see if they have signed out, gone for coffee or something."

"McGee, I would definitely say something, but you never said why you went to the lab?"

"No I didn't Gibbs said I was to go and help Abby with a witch."

"A witch," interesting Tony replied now thinking, "And what has a witch to do with Abby?"

"Something to do with our dead Petty Officer, and the bit of wood Jimmy had brought earlier to her, and the fact the body came from Salem."

"Now, you have got my attention McWizard, maybe I should go and have a look in the lab too," as he turned and walked to the elevator.

-oOo-

Tony strode into the lab with his usual confidence, only to spy the floor scattered with some of Abby's books, and the fridge door swinging open. Some of her empty caf-pow cartons were placed up like a pack of cards into a tower, and her chair spinning round and round.

"Hey, very funny guys, Tim said you were playing tricks down here, and it isn't Halloween," as he felt a draught pass him and a strange aroma envelope his persona, "Hey that stinks Abbs," as he turned to face no-one. Tony just gasped and ran from the lab, and if he didn't know better he thought he heard a laugh.

-oOo-

Tony ran back to the bullpen and plonked himself down in his chair, yes, there was definitely something strange, very strange going on in Abby's lab, and now Tim had disappeared and where was Gibbs. Tony suddenly felt like a small child, alone in an alien world. It took him back to when he was left by his dad in a hotel room for two days when DiNozzo Senior had left for a supposed business meeting. Tony wanted Gibbs, and Tim, where were they?

-oOo-

Gibbs walked down the stairs from MTAC, he had looked over the railings and saw Tony all bt himself looking pensive or was it worry, he had to find out.

"Hey DiNozzo what's up?" as he strode rounds to his desk and began to organise his papers.

"Tim said you asked him to help with the witch," Tony replied.

"Sure did, needed a name on old records out of Salem. Thought Tim would be the best person being more techno man than tough guy. Look Tony, you are good at what you do, great at getting records but Tim had the computer skills….what's eating you anyway?" As Gibbs now looked across at Tony he asked, "You went to the lab what happened?"

"Boss, can I show you?"

"Yep and where is Tim?"

"Boss, Abby and Jimmy have disappeared, and Tim has gone to find if they have left the building. But Boss, something is in Abby's lab."

"Yea I know a witch, told Abby to get Tim to help."

"No Boss something worse than a witch," as Tony looked across at Gibbs whose eye twitched.

"Meaning?"

"Not sure, but the lab is a mess, poltergeist springs to mind," Tony concluded.


	5. Gibbs

"Lizzie, what are you going to show us?" Abby now asked as she ran after the girl.

"Hey wait for me, I want to go home sometime," Jimmy added, following.

Lizzie stopped at the church, and just looked up.

"I was christen'd in that church, and they did the s'rvice f'r mine death thith'r."

"Were you buried in the churchyard?" Abby now asked, "Just I kinda like graveyards," smiling.

"Nay Abigail, I was inurn'd with all the oth'r beshrew victims in what thou calleth a ingraft grave, outside the town boundry," pointing to what would now be a house estate.

"Ever thought of popping up and doing a little haunting?" Jimmy now enquired.

"James, how couldeth thou sayeth such things, but ay some of the moo mischevieous spirits doeth."

"But Lizzie, we know where our Petty Officer was killed, but this is the 1690's, when are you going to tell us why?" Abby began to ask getting slightly annoyed.

"Prithee holdeth mine hands and shuteth thy eyes," as she held out her hands to the pair, "When I telleth thou to openeth then thou caneth," as she looked at the pair, "But thou caneth't openeth them until I sayeth, if thou doeth then I willeth loose thou and thou willeth becometh trapp'd forev'r between worlds."

Abby and Jimmy took Lizzie's hands and shut their eyes tight shut, they could feel a wind a whooshing sound but held on tight. As before Lizzie squeezed their hands, an indication they could open their eyes. It was Salem 2013.

"Are we still invisible?" Jimmy asked.

"Ay, and as thou caneth seeth we art outside the town hall, the corky records of births and deaths art hith'r, as art the plans f'r all buildings."

"So our Petty Officer was in there looking for records of his ancestor, your brother, and what happened, what made him the target of a murder?" Abby questioned.

"He had foundeth details but was in the bank yond'r," Lizzie replied pointing to the bank, "He was standing in line when the bank was held up by two people, they took a child and moth'r captive, but thy petty offic'r he wasn't going to standeth back and seeth distaff and children hurteth so he confront'd the men. They took him, letting the moth'r and child goeth, but they kill'd him."

"So why use the yoke, I don't understand," Jimmy started to say.

"Thith'r was the fair on, the re-enactment and they usually useth a store dummy how doeth thou sayeth, a mannequin, but this time they us'd a real corse, Stratton was not yet dead when he was drown'd."

"So these people are still at large, here in Salem?" Abby now questioned.

"Nay, they return'd to Washington, a Carlos Galan and a Juan Caja they belongeth to some street gang, but anon i haveth to returneth thou to thy owneth time ''re ye art miss'd any long'r. Timothy and Anthony they art wond'ring whence thou both art," as Lizzie again held out her hands, for the pair to hold onto.

-oOo-

Gibbs hurriedly made his way to Abby's lab not sure what to find, Tony stayed close behind Gibbs, he had been there and seen the mess. Gibbs entered the lab to find Abby lying face down on the floor and Jimmy was on his back moaning slightly.

"Abby, Abbs?" Gibbs shouted in a concerned fatherly way as he knelt down and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey Autopsy Gremlin, what have you been up too? Remember you're a married man," Tony began to say pulling Jimmy up and facing him, "Tim's been looking for you, as has Ducky."

"We haven't left here, honest, I came to help Abby after Dr Mallard and Agent Gibbs sort of gave me a row. I remember a beaker falling and some horrid smell," Jimmy replied rubbing his hair.

"Gibbs, I know who killed Petty Officer Stratten, a Carlos Galan and a Juan Caja," Abby answered looking at Gibbs.

"How?" Gibbs enquired.

"My witch told me," Abby replied smiling, "Only she wasn't a witch she was a plague victim and her name is Lizzie Stratton," as some papers from Abby's back office seemed to be tossed towards them.

"See Boss, a poltergeist," Tony screamed.

"Nay," as Abby's eyes seemed to glaze over, and she spoke, "That is a zashiki-warashi, they art child ghosts who dwell in large well maintain'd houses. They art mischievous and mayeth playeth bawbling tricks on the living. Howev'r, seeing a one 'r having one in thy house is consid'r'd v'ry lucky and caneth endue great fortunes, that one is call'd Natsuko 'r child of the summ'r, I willeth seeth she returns with me."

"Wow, where did you learn to speak like that?" Tony asked in awe, as Gibbs eye twitched, he felt a slight breeze and a strange smell and then nothing.

"You, OK Abbs?" as he looked at her, then and Jimmy.

"Ay, we art fine," Jim replied, now looking strangely about.

"Abby, good work and what was it Lizzie said, Carlos Galan and a Juan Caja? Get on it DiNozzo and find McGee." As Gibbs looked about he could only say "Thank you Lizzie," he would ask Abby later what really happened if she could remember, but somehow he knew that whatever had happened, wherever the pair had seen, done or heard, they would not recall.

The End.


End file.
